What should be a five-hour commute from Montreal back to the Bay State became an 8 1/2-hour odyssey thanks to a three-hour back-up at the U.S.-Canada border this morning.

Considering this blogger and numerous writers from other outlets were all caught up in the mess, one has to wonder if one day after pressing all the right buttons in his team’s Game 4 win Bruins head coach Claude Julien worked his magic again to make sure none of us made it back in time to question him during the Bruins’ brief media availability in Boston.

The Bruins did not practice and will get back to work tomorrow night in Game 5 against Montreal at TD Garden.

A couple things happened while I was trapped in my car:

•Obviously it’s not a surprise that Tim Thomas was among the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, as voted by the leagues’ general managers. Thomas, the 2008 winner of the award, was joined by Nashville’s Pekka Rinne and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo in the top three.

If Thomas doesn’t win after leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage, and setting an NHL single-season record for the latter, it will be a major upset — even if Thomas hasn’t looked like an All-World goaltender in this current playoff series.

•It’s also not surprising that Andrew Ference received a $2,500 fine from the NHL for his gesture after he scored Boston’s second goal in Game 4. However, Ference somewhat surprisingly stuck to his story about the stuck glove rather than fessing up to having committed an egregious mistake. Maybe the most ridiculous part of Ference’s denial is the face he made when the gesture happened. It’s the defiant look we’re all taught to make when we first learn to flip someone off in the fifth grade.

The “accidental bird” will go down in Bruins folklore, especially if the team goes on to win the Cup. I doubt Ference’s odd explanation will do anything to dampen the Bruins fans’ enthusiasm for what he did and he should get a rousing ovation from the TD Garden faithful. I’d also expect some funny signs and maybe some folks with gloves with the fingers cut off — except for one — in the stands at Game 5. Maybe it’ll start a trend of each Bruins player using his own inappropriate goal celebration.

So I guess what your saying is that 12 grandmothers and 19 hockeymoms calling 911
is an accurate representation of the sentiments of the entire Pro-habs population in North America??? I’m totally embarrassed by the police investigation thing, but it was kinda sick, and it was the closest anybody has ever come to getting killed in a hockey game. it was an illegal interference play that did result in a major injury, he shoulda been suspended but at this point it doesn’t matter anymore. maybe his arm just got stuck behind his head…right???

Also, there are a lot of really dumb people in this world, those idiots that boo your anthem are also booing ours, you just can’t hear it. There’s rotten apples everywhere…I’m sure there’s a few canadian, French, black, Hispanic, jew hating idiots in your country no???

I wonder if anybody in your city would care about bruins and this series if the sox didn’t suck so bad the first 2 weeks of the season.

habs fans know that middle finger flip off was for all of you the greatest moment in the history of bruins hockey.

Im all for the hate, I wouldn’t have it any other way…but the fans and your bruin players need to start showing a little more respect for your opponents….otherwise your gonna crumble like you have for the last 40 years….like that OT shove on chara was really such a big deal…common…habs fans hate, but we respect.

And just so you know…we all hate benoit pouliot up here, he’s done in montreal and were all happy bout that.

The habs have outplayed your bruins in 12 or 13 of the 16 periods in this series and sure were worried, but you should be too.

Yah we blew the 2-0 series lead…but wasn’t this series supposed to be over already?

I’m sure that if the habs somehow win the series you’ll blame your french coach, the refs, and maxim lapierre and say the canadiens are all a bunch of divers.

In 1989 I was 9 and watched the flames win the cup in our building, 17,000 fans cheered to salut the champs and my dad said son, this is what we do….

I’m sure most of the people following these threads are idiots so call me names, say what you want, make fun of me cause you assume I’m French….it’s all good…I know that most of you probably aren’t capable of rational thought so I won’t be insulted.

I did my MBA at BC. Was fun being a Habs fan living in Boston…I’m sure some of you cleaned my toilets.

Even Knuckles thinks your all a joke…you can have Don Cherry, Mike Milbury, Jack Edwards and my idiot bruins-fan-father-in-law too…